Heavy machinery equipment is used in mining, excavation, demolition, construction, and similar activities. The parts of heavy machines which are used for digging are exposed to a great amount of wear in operation. For instance, a ground engaging tool has teeth which continually dig, rip, cut, or lift dirt, rock, concrete, metal, or other heavy and rugged materials, which constantly wear against and abrade the surface of the teeth.
Heavy machinery parts are expensive and time-consuming to repair or replace, so many pieces of equipment are applied with wear plates or wear structures which can be replaced more quickly. For instance, on a ripper, the tooth may be a durable cover fitted onto the end of the ripper shank, so that when the tooth wears out, the tooth is removed and replaced without the need to repair the entire ripper shank. By removing and replacing only those parts which directly engage with the ground, considerable time and expense can be saved.
However, there are many safety issues with current designs of replacement parts. Current designs generally require that a sledgehammer be used to install pins which secure the replacement parts on the ripper shank. The pins are hammered into the parts, and often a tool is placed against the pin and hammered with the sledgehammer. This can lead to serious injury when the tool moves, is broken, or the sledgehammer misses its mark. The safety organizations which regulate workplace safety, such as MSHA and OSHA, disapprove of pins and replacement parts which require sledgehammers for installation. Further, a sledgehammer is also frequently used to remove the pin, by hammering the pin out of the replacement part. Again, this often leads to serious injury.
Many manufacturers of such replacement parts also incorporate unique or proprietary features in the parts that make removal and replacement difficult and expensive. Some manufacturers build replacement parts with special slots that will only accommodate their own tools. Others build parts that will only accept their own replacement parts. For instance, on a shovel, a tooth adapter fit on the shovel may be specially formed to only accept a tooth from the same manufacturer that made the adapter. Similarly, the tooth may have a slot or other engagement feature that requires that a proprietary pin be used to couple the tooth to the end of the adapter, because a slot formed between the adapter and the tooth will only accept those pins. Still further, some manufacturers may create coupling pins that require uniquely-shaped keys or tools to install or remove the pins. These fasteners can be difficult or dangerous to remove, risking bodily harm or even death, and generally incurring enormous opportunity costs while the shovel is prevented from operating. An improved fastening device for coupling heavy equipment parts is needed, as is an improved tooth and adapter assembly for heavy equipment.